Things Are Happening in the Dark!

This blog was originally published on Aug 23, 2015, but it bears repeating. Please enjoy!

“There are so many disasters and so much negativity in the world.”“The world is a scary and terrible place.”“Bad things are always happening. I don’t feel safe anymore.”

Many of us have thoughts like these of being powerless and out-of-control — statements of victimhood. They somehow seem right to us, just part of the conversational background noise. Because we have all played the victim for so long, men and women alike, it just all seems normal.

So if victimization feels normal then how can one be aware of and recognize those feelings and change them to ones of personal power?

Photograph by Paula Bates

I have two possible lines of thought about this.

The first one is concerned with judgement – judgment of ourselves in comparison to someone or something else. We compare and judge and nearly always come up wanting, either feeling cheated, abused (victimized) or the opposite, feeling better than (the flip side of victimization — domination). In some cases we just feel guilty about what we do have so we can’t enjoy our blessings. We are in a Catch 22 game of victimization — what a dilemma!

In the comparison game there is no way to win.

Within this competition there is always someone better off or worse off than you. Always. It is draining and even debilitating. So instead of playing the game here, it is so much less toxic to not compare and to allow your unique and individual self to come through and exist fully like that old snowflake metaphor.

You’ve experienced, I’m sure, the power and charisma of someone who is in their own field, who isn’t affected by what others say or do. It can be uplifting just to be in the aura of such a person.

By being in your own unique field and not comparing yourself to others, you are allowing your own emotional power to emerge.

Photograph by Paula Bates

How exhilarating to do exactly what you feel is best for your own growth, your own development, and leave others to their own growth and development! There may be times when what is best for your own highest good will also intersect with others, perhaps being asked to help someone or volunteer with an organization. But still it is necessary to tune in and see what it is YOU need for YOUR development and not to get pulled into someone else’s needs at the expense of your own spiritual health. If you call it quits to this emotional roller coaster, you will actually be able to embrace your own personal power.

Photograph by Paula Bates

The other line of thought I have been considering is about trust and faith.
Most of what we do and accomplish is like the proverbial iceberg. There is so much beyond our perceptions that is happening beyond our ability to comprehend. For example it is most unusual to ever see how something is made from start to finish, all the processes that happen to enable a product to end up in your home are unknown to you. But yet there it is; you can hold the product in your hand.

You know it exists!

But how it all came to be is mostly a mystery.

Painting by Paula Bates

Take for example, a box of organic lettuce that you purchased at the grocery store. There are so many things you don’t know about the lettuce. Where was it grown? Who tended it? Where was it packed? Who created the company that sold the lettuce? Who made the mold for the plastic box that holds the organic lettuce that you bought? Who designed the label? Who drove the truck that got it to the grocery store? Who designed and made the truck? How did the laborers get to work? Who made the car or the bus or subway, or designed the sidewalks that got you to and from the grocery store? Who created the clothing you wore while you went to and from the grocery store? The questions could go on for infinity and you would never be able to identify every aspect that got you there to buy and bring home your purchase. So if this is true about a simple product, then what about a special incident in your life?

Think about all the things that had to come together to get you to a certain place at exactly the right time to have everything line up exactly as it did.

It is mind boggling to say the least.

I had a dream a while back that helped me wrap my mind around this concept. I woke up with these words ringing in my ear,

“Things are happening in the dark.”

I was so taken by those words that ever since that time, I have been sure that I am being taken care of despite the doubts that still like to spring up occasionally.

I was having one of those doubting days last week and was frustrated, depressed, and generally fed up with the promises of the Universe. Wanting something to take my mind off my frustrations, I went downstairs to the dark family room that is so rarely used these days, to water my plants. On the windowsill sat an orchid that I had bought at Krogers several years before. I thought it had gone somewhat dormant after its original blooms had fallen off, but to my delight it now sported two gorgeous blossoms and three more buds about to bloom!

Photograph by Paula Bates

Such a beautiful sign and a lovely gift from Spirit! But just in case I didn’t get the message, to underline it, a few minutes later I found a bunch of surprise lilies in my backyard that I had forgotten I had planted. This is the first year they had ever survived and had not been devoured immediately by the deer!

Photograph by Paula Bates

The lesson here for all of us is this: trust the messages that are always there. They’re sometimes subtle, often sweet, like my flowers, or sometimes more like a cosmic two-by-four like a job loss, but the signs are there to tell us that we are on the right path or that we need to make an adjustment. Remember that each of us is unique and precious. It’s such a waste of time to compare ourselves to others. Experiment trusting in the wisdom and benevolence of the Universe which truly wants us to be fulfilled and happy.
It is in fact a magical and wonder-filled world!